US News This afternoon In an alternate universe, Hillary Clinton is assembling her White House cabinet right now. In this universe, she's maintained a low profile since her election loss, occasionally crossing paths with hikers and shoppers near her home in Chappequa, New York.

The Ottawa Redblacks pulled off one of the biggest upsets in Grey Cup history, defeating the Calgary Stampeders 39-33 in overtime. Ottawa quarterback Henry Burris threw an 18-yard touchdown to Ernest Jackson in overtime. Calgary, who got the ball second, could not equalize, giving Ottawa its first CFL title since 1976, when they were called the Rough Riders. Burris led the charge with 461 yards passing and three touchdowns. He added two more touchdowns on the ground.

Washington (CNN)--President Barack Obama dished out some final Thanksgiving puns Wednesday as he performed the ceremonial White House task of pardoning turkeys. Obama was joined at the Rose Garden ceremony by his two young nephews, Austin and Aaron Robinson, as opposed to his two daughters, Sasha and Malia, whom, he said, "just couldn't take my jokes anymore -- they were fed up." He then spoke about turning from "polls to poultry" in carrying out the tradition. This year, the two lucky birds, named Tater and Tot, came to Washington by way of Iowa. Obama, however, said the tradition wouldn't end...

Female Hillary Clinton supporters have described how they broke down after her crushing election loss. For many women, they felt they'd not only lost the chance of a huge milestone — the election of America's first female president — but the victorious candidate was one who had denigrated women and been accused of multiple instances of sexual assault. Maggie Passmore of St. Paul, Minnesota, had been watching election returns at a party but reverted to watching at home 'when things got scary.' She fell asleep, then awoke to learn that Donald Trump was defeating Hillary Clinton. 'And then I threw...

A Queen’s University student theatre company has cancelled a production of Shakespeare’s Othello set to open this month following an outcry over the decision to cast a white woman in the title role of a black man. “For the safety and mental health of our entire team we unfortunately feel the need to suspend our production of Othello,” the artistic directors wrote on Facebook Wednesday. They subsequently apologized to the Kingston, Ont., university’s black community for what they called an “oppressive” artistic decision. After September auditions, Queen’s Vagabond Theatre made what its directors acknowledged was a risky decision: Lauren Broadhurst,...

Variety magazine has endorsed Hillary Clinton for president, marking the first time in more than 100 years that Hollywood’s oldest entertainment industry trade magazine has made a presidential endorsement. Variety announced their endorsement of Clinton on Tuesday and joins a growing list of publications like The Atlantic and the conservative Arizona Republic newspaper that have made unprecedented or otherwise rare endorsements of the Democratic nominee this election season. The magazine acknowledged it was unusual for a trade publication to make such an endorsement, but said this of all years was the one in which the editors-in-chief and Variety’s publisher, Michelle...

Europe is in chaos. Over the last year, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has allowed over one million Muslim migrants to come to Germany. Many of these refugees are young, uneducated males, with no skills, no understanding of German, and no plans on assimilating. As terrorist attacks and sexual assaults by these Muslim newcomers become more common throughout Europe, many Germans are regretting inviting these people to their country. Now there are multiple reports of German biker clubs roaming the streets of German cities, attacking Muslim immigrants. Two Pakistani men were recently hospitalized after getting attacked by a group of 20...

Four sentences in a letter to Speaker of the House Todd Richardson are about to turn the Missouri political world upside down. “My name is Cora Faith Walker. I will be in the Capitol in January as the Representative of the 74th District. Earlier this week, I reported a sexual assault to the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department. I named my rapist as Steven Roberts, Jr., who hopes to be in the Capitol in January as the Representative of the 77th District.” On Friday night, Walker, 31, a Ferguson attorney who won the Democratic primary for her seat in August,...

OTTAWA — The National Film Board spent $96,000 on focus groups and workshops for its own staff between November and June, including $75,000 to determine office layouts and workplace strategy — a bill the Canadian Taxpayers Federation calls “ridiculous.” The agency hired consultants at Grisvert Inc. to conduct focus group research on physical office layouts and “organizational transformation” for two new offices in Montreal and Toronto, each project costing $21,000. It also hired Deloitte LLP to consult with NFB employees on a “digital workplace strategy,” costing $33,000. Just under $20,000 more was spent on several workshops held for staff, though...

Michael Coren, former Catholic apologist and journalist, has been stripped of his papal knighthood following his reception into the Anglican Church of Canada in 2013. Coren is known for his popular work of Catholic apologetics, Why Catholics Are Right, and for his schism from the Church over her doctrine on homosexuality. He is married with four children. Cardinal Aloysius Ambrozic made Mr Coren a Knight of the Holy Sepulchre in October 1992, for 'services to Catholic media'. According to an interview with the ultra-liberal Catholic journal, The Tablet, "Coren was stripped of his papal knighthood and asked to return the...

OTTAWA — A longtime refugee advocate says stories such as that of Liberal MP Maryam Monsef are not uncommon as families fleeing war and violence reconstruct their past in a new land. Monsef, widely touted as Canada's first Afghan-born cabinet minister, caused a stir in the capital Thursday when she issued a statement saying she only recently learned from her mother that she was in fact born in Iran. The 31-year-old minister of democratic institutions says she and her two sisters never held Iranian citizenship and were always considered Afghan citizens, but she was not born in Herat, Afghanistan, "as...

TORONTO -- An unabashedly atheist minister who does not believe in the Bible should be defrocked for her beliefs, a United Church committee has recommended in a split decision that seems likely to stir further dissent in the church. In its unprecedented report, the reviewing panel said Gretta Vosper would not be ordained were she applying today given her extreme beliefs. "She is not suitable to continue in ordained ministry because she does not believe in God, Jesus Christ or the Holy Spirit," the report by the Toronto Conference interview committee states. "Ms. Vosper does not recognize the primacy...

OTTAWA—Two-thirds of Canadians want prospective immigrants to be screened for “anti-Canadian” values, a new poll reveals, lending support to an idea that is stirring controversy in political circles. Conservative MP Kellie Leitch, a candidate in her party’s leadership contest, has floated the idea of screening newcomers for their attitudes on intolerance toward other religions, cultures and sexual orientations and reluctance to embrace Canadian freedoms. A new Forum Research Inc. poll for the Star shows that Leitch may be tapping into an idea that Canadians favour with 67 per cent saying immigrants should indeed be screened for “anti-Canadian values.” More importantly...

When music class begins this week at Toronto’s Donwood Park elementary school, Mohammad Nouman Dasu will send a family member to collect his three young children. They will go home for an hour rather than sing and play instruments – a mandatory part of the Ontario curriculum he believes violates his Muslim faith. The Scarborough school and the Toronto District School Board originally had offered an accommodation – suggesting students could just clap their hands in place of playing instruments or listen to acapella versions of O Canada – but not a full exemption from the class. After a bitter...

The Ottawa teacher’s aide who sexually exploited a vulnerable high school student for two years was jailed on Tuesday for 14 months in what the judge called a significant breach of trust. Ontario Court Justice Celynne Dorval didn’t buy Katherine Kitts’s defence that it was just an awful lapse in judgment and noted the planning and duration of the sexual exploitation was anything but spontaneous. Kitts, 46, would sometimes furnish her minivan with an air mattress for planned sexual encounters in parking lots and parks near the boy’s home. “Had there been one or two sexual encounters before she ended...

Egypt’s state-run television has suspended eight of its female presenters for being overweight — telling them they can return to the air only after they go on a diet. The move sparked outrage among women’s groups and members of parliament but state television authorities show no sign of backing down. The presenters were given a month to lose weight and told they will not be allowed back on screen until they have an “appropriate appearance,” according to the Youm7 newspaper. The decision was made by Safaa Hegazi, the female chief of Egypt’s ERTU public broadcaster. .... Khadija Khatab, one of...

Police in Quebec have another maple syrup heist on their hands. First, there was the Great Maple Syrup Heist of 2011-2012, in which $18 million worth of the sweet sap went missing. Then, earlier this week, thieves made off with 20,000 litres of Quebec's sweetest export, worth an estimated $150,000, from a storage facility near Montreal's Trudeau airport in Dorval. abuzz Alfredo Monaco, a vice-president at Mexuscan Cargo, said the thieves broke into the warehouse and stole a shipping container loaded with 20 pallets of Kirkland brand one-litre bottles of syrup. The syrup was destined for the Japanese market. The...

Justin Trudeau has become the first sitting prime minister to participate in Vancouver’s annual Pride parade. He and his family waved to cheering crowds as they led the procession along the rainbow-decorated streets of the city’s downtown on Sunday. Trudeau says Pride is about celebrating community, family and the diversity that he says makes Canada strong. The prime minister is no stranger to Vancouver Pride — this is the third year in a row he’s taken part in the event.

A Viscountess has blamed badgers for the slaughter of 200 lambs on her family’s estate, as she called for a widespread cull of the animals. Helene, Viscountess Scarsdale, a formidable aristocrat, said the lambs had been killed in three years, while also accusing the National Trust, which now owns historic Kedleston Hall in Derbyshire, of allowing the badgers to “wreak havoc”. She said 500 acres of “beautiful” parkland at Kedleston, which has been in the family for almost 1,000 years, had been allowed to turn into “thistles and nettles” by the trust, which in turn had let badgers thrive. The...

Every stallion has a “tell,” says Bridgette Jablonsky, and, in this moment, in a dimly lit barn at Hanover Shoe Farms in Hanover, Pa., Somebeachsomewhere, the legendary Canadian harness racing champion and international Hall of Fame horse, is telling Jablonsky he is ready to perform. Somebeachsomewhere’s readiness is never a certainty. He is a finicky and, at times, apathetic lover. To hasten his readiness Chiptease, a mare in heat, is in the barn, standing idly by as her would-be mate nips at her hindquarters, throws back his head, inhales deeply and, after 10 minutes, starts dancing about on his hooves....

A senior in Truro, N.S., is thanking police after an officer recovered a bag of beets from an intoxicated cyclist which may have been stolen from her community garden plot. Olga McCabe-Cain said she arrived at the King Street community garden on the site of the former St. Mary's Elementary School in Truro at around 7 p.m. on Wednesday, only to discover that a number of her beet plants were missing. "It was so disappointing," McCabe-Cain said. "They cleaned the row right out nicely — even padded it over — and left one bunch of beets at the end." She...

PARIS — Police in Nice have questioned a 73-year-old man described as the Bastille Day killer’s “main lover” as investigators described him as a “sex maniac” and “ultra-violent sadist,” according to French reports. The revelation came amid revelations that Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel had displayed a “clear, recent interest in the radical jihadist movement,” growing a beard only in the last eight days after a previous life drinking alcohol and eating pork. Francois Molins, the French prosecutor, said the Tunisian, who killed 84 people when he plowed into crowds on Nice’s Promenade des Anglais last Thursday, had searched on the Internet...

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis met several people following his weekly General Audience in St. Peter’s Square, including 26 year-old Lena Bröder – Miss Germany 2016 – who also happens to be a teacher of religion and home economics in Germany’s school system. Bröder is also the author of a volume, Das Schöne in mir - Mit Glaube zum Erfolg – “The Beautiful in me: with faith to success” – due on bookshelves in Germany later this month. German wire service reports quote Bröder as calling the meeting with Pope Francis, “moving,” and as saying that she told the Holy...

OTTAWA — The Canadian Forces has distributed 120,000 wallet-size cards to military personnel to remind them that sexual assault is an “inappropriate” behaviour. The cards are to be carried by military staff on the job, including when they are sent overseas. But a critic of how the Canadian Forces has been handling its response to what has been labelled a sexual misconduct crisis says such reminder cards are absurd. “It is disgusting to label sexual assault as simply something that is inappropriate — it is a criminal act and if you don’t understand that then you have real problems,”...

Brockville Police say a heated discussion about the shape of the Earth led to the fire department being called in. Police say they were called to St. Lawrence Park around 10:30 Monday, after a family had been involved in a full fledged argument. Apparently a woman was insisting the earth was flat and her boyfriend's father was arguing it is round. Police say the 56-year-old man became so angry he started to throw things into their camp fire, including a propane cylinder. Brockville Fire was called in to put out the blaze and at some point the man left the...

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has launched a smoking prevention campaign aimed at young adult lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered (LGBT) persons who are occasional users of tobacco. Young adult LGBT persons are nearly twice as likely to use tobacco as other young adults, said Mitch Zeller, JD, director, Center for Tobacco Products (CTP), FDA, during a press briefing to announce the campaign, called This Free Life. Of the more than 2 million LGBT persons aged 18 to 24 years in the United States, more than 800,000 are occasional or so-called social smokers, according to Dr Zeller. "Unfortunately,...

Brent Hawkes, a prominent Toronto pastor, has been charged with committing sex crimes in Nova Scotia, lawyer Clayton Ruby confirmed to CBC News. Ruby said his client was charged by the RCMP in December with indecent assault and gross indecency in Kings County, N.S. The offences are alleged to have happened in the 1970s. The 65-year-old, who delivered the eulogy at former New Democratic Party leader Jack Layton's 2011 funeral, has been the senior pastor at the Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto for nearly 40 years. He is well known in the LGBT community, and has been recognized for his...

Michiganâ€™s Jake Butt is one of the tightest tight ends in the nation, and was chosen as the Big Tenâ€™s Kwalick-Clark Tight End of the Year. Butt, a junior, has 48 receptions for 620 yards and three touchdowns so far this season. Heâ€™s always shown immense potential, but really flourished this season under Jim Harbaugh, a man who knows his way around tight ends. If Butt decides to declare for the NFL Draft, at the moment heâ€™s looking like a mid-round pick.

Toronto police have found several guns and a religious book in the trunk of a car that was abandoned after a crash. The single-vehicle collision happened at Allen and Transit roads, north of Wilson Avenue, around 4:30 a.m. on Friday. The routine investigation turned into something much more when police arrived to find no one in the car. However, they did find a machine gun with a silencer, two handguns, one silencer for a handgun, and a small amount of ammunition. Police said the religious materials do not appear to have any connection to the investigation, and it is likely...

WINNIPEG â€” The Edmonton Eskimos have won their first CFL championship title since 2005 by beating the Ottawa RedBlacks 26-20 in the 103rd Grey Cup presented by Shaw. Edmonton took a six-point lead with less than four minutes left in the game as Jordan Lynch broke into the endzone with a one-yard quarterback sneak. The Eskimos added a two-point convert following the touchdown. The RedBlacks sat in front 19-18 following three quarters of play thanks to a 33-yard Chris Milo field goal.

The Church of England has appointed as Bishop of Sherborne a leading advocate of Christian nudism. On 26 Nov 2015 the Prime Ministerâ€™s Office announced the The Queen had approved the nomination of the Ven Karen Gorham, the Archdeacon of Buckingham, to the Suffragan See of Sherborne in the diocese of Salisbury in succession to the Rt Rev. Graham Kings. Archdeacon Gorham was educated at the University of Bristol and trained for the ministry at Trinity College, Bristol. She served her title at Northallerton with Kirby Sigston in the diocese of York from 1995 to 1999 and went on to...

There was no clowning around for Doo Doo the Clown when he called 911 after witnessing a man attack two women on Sunday afternoon. Doo Doo â€” also known as Shane Farberman â€” says when he saw the man punch one of the women in the head near Front Street West and Bathurst Street he went into action. "I remember pulling up as fast as I can screaming, 'Get in, get in!' and I know that I am a clown and I had a car full of clowns, but these ladies ran and jumped into the back," said Doo...

A Punjab unit leader of the Shiv Sena had offered to pay as reward a sum of One lakh Rupees to anyone who slaps Bollywood star Aamir Khan over his comment on growing intolerance in India. "Any person who slaps Aamir Khan will be rewarded Rs 1 lakh by the Shiv Sena. This is important because no one living in our country should dare to say anything against India" Punjab Shiv Sena chief Rajeev Tandon said. "Anyone from the hotel staff or the film crew can slap him and take the reward," he added. However, Shiv Sena said that it...

Prime Minister-designate Justin Trudeau, dressed as Han Solo from The Empire Strikes Back, walks with his children Hadrien (second from right), Ella-Grace and Xavier, as his wife Sophie Gregoire, dressed as Princess Leia, jokes with onlookers as the family prepares to go trick-or-treating in Ottawa on Saturday. (Justin Tang/Canadian Press) Justin Trudeau took on a more swashbuckling image Halloween night as he took his family out trick or treating. Canada's next prime minister dressed up as Han Solo of Star Wars fame while Sophie Gregoire wore a Princess Leia costume as they took their three children to knock on...

More women are coming forward with allegations concerning Canadian Olympic Committee head Marcel Aubut, who has stepped aside pending the investigation of a sexual harassment complaint from a staffer. They accuse Mr. Aubut of making unwanted advances that include fondling, touching and forcibly kissing them. On Thursday, the TVA network reported Mr. Aubut reached a financial settlement in a complaint made by a former executive assistant around the time he was a partner at Heenan Blaikie, the now-defunct law firm. The allegations were never proven in court. In an interview with the news channel, the unidentified woman alleged that on...

At a fundraiser to help cover the funeral costs of a friend who died trying to stop a fight outside a Saskatoon bar, a group of young men ended up embroiled in a fight that led to two of them facing assault charges. It was a sad set of circumstances that concluded in Saskatoon provincial court on Thursday, with Christopher Godlien pleading guilty to assault causing bodily harm. The second accused, Robbie Watier, previously pleaded guilty to assault in relation to the same incident. They were at Tequila Nightclub on the night of March 8, 2014, at a fundraiser for...

A Kingsport woman told police she was counterfeiting money because she read online that President Barack Obama made a new law allowing her to print her own money, according to a police report. Police were called to a local grocery store on Sunday night in regards to a complaint about counterfeit money. When the reporting officer arrived, he spoke with a gas station clerk who said that just prior to the officer's arrival, a white female had handed him a $5 bill, which he suspected to be counterfeit. The clerk handed the officer the bill and immediately recognized the bill...

Another hugely dramatic day at the Tour de France, during which race leader Tony Martin abandoned the race with a fractured collarbone following a multi-rider pile-up and defending champion Vincenzo Nibali allegedly threw a bottle at new race leader Chris Froome, whom he accused of having caused the fall, ended in a racism controversy. It was claimed that an MTN Qhubeka rider was called a “f–– n––” during yesterday’s fourth stage of the Tour of Austria. The South African team’s principal, Doug Ryder, claimed last night that the incident was far from a one-off, alleging further racist abuse and bullying...

EDMONTON – Find it. Scoop it. Submit it. It’s just that easy. As part of a new pilot project aimed at learning more about the park’s bears, Jasper National Park is looking for dedicated volunteers to collect bear scat this summer. Hikers will first be trained to properly collect and handle the samples. After that, they will be asked to gather samples of bear droppings from along the park’s trails.

After a drunken game of Monopoly went awry, a woman picked up a planter and belted her male opponent in the head, say Saskatchewan police. RCMP officers arrested both of them in North Battleford, Sask. after receiving a 911 call at 3:44 a.m. Wednesday morning. The woman, 43, was then charged with assault with a weapon and breach of probation. “These two individuals that were involved in this incident — we’re very familiar with them, and we deal with them on a regular basis,” said Sgt. Amber Clark.

LOS ANGELES — Three people, including one who works for California Attorney General Kamala Harris, were charged after claiming to operate a police department with jurisdiction in 33 states and Mexico and that traces its roots back 3,000 years, authorities said Wednesday. Brandon Kiel, David Henry and Tonette Hayes were taken into custody last week on suspicion of impersonating officers as members of the Masonic Fraternal Police Department, Los Angeles County sheriff’s officials said. Detectives believe other people may be involved in the operation, sheriff’s spokeswoman Nicole Nishida said. .... The investigation started after various police chiefs in California received...

You know they may be thinking it about you, when you're arguing with a customer service representative. But it's a stretch when you actually see it in writing: "A**hole". That's what happened to a Spokane, Washington couple after they sparred about their bill with a customer service representative from Comcast. When Ricardo and Lisa Brown got their monthly service bill, the husband's name had been changed from Ricardo Brown to "A**hole Brown."

A group of male fourth-year Dalhousie University dentistry students who posted misogynistic comments about their female colleagues on a Facebook page, including crude jokes about sedating them for rough sex, are at risk of expulsion. University president Richard Florizone has launched an investigation into the incident, and immediately postponed exams for the 47 fourth-year students – 26 men and 21 women – until January, not wanting any targets of the offensive posts to be sitting next to a perpetrator until he knows more. .... The social media group was called the Class of DDS 2015 Gentlemen. According to the CBC,...

KITCHENER — A Kitchener anesthetist specializing in pain management has been charged with two counts of fraud after he billed the Ontario government for services he didn't provide. The Ontario Provincial Police Anti-Rackets branch arrested and charged Dr. Kulbir Singh Billing, 63, on Monday night. He will appear in Ontario Court in January. He faces two counts of fraud over $5,000. OPP Sgt. Peter Leon said the charges stem from billings to the Ontario government from 2010 to 2013. Leon said billings were made to the Ontario Health Insurance Plan and the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board for services that...

With drums, posters and a cause, 70 Dalhousie University students threaded through Halifax’s core late last month protesting rights abuses in North Korea. It was not a controversial cause — not the way abortion or any of the other hot topics of the day might be, organizer Robert Huish acknowledges. Their biggest challenge, he said, was figuring out how to keep candles lit in sub-zero temperatures. The turnout was great — perfect, even — quite likely because the participants’ academic success depended on it. Mr. Huish, a Dalhousie professor, is perhaps the first university instructor in Canada to award...

Jian Ghomeshi was arrested Wednesday in Toronto and is facing charges of four counts of sexual assault and one count of "overcome resistance - choking." He appeared in court this afternoon. CBC's John Lancaster reported that Ghomeshi was "sitting alone in prisoner's box. White shirt, black blazer. Looks tired." Ghomeshi has been granted $100,000 bail on the conditions that he live with his mother, surrender his passport and not leave Ontario. Ghomeshi's next court appearance is Jan. 8. Ghomeshi left the courthouse, pushing through a crush of media, without saying a word. But in a statement his lawyer Marie Henein...

Following the news of a bad buckwheat harvest, panic buying of the traditional foodstuff sent prices soaring in a sign that some analysts say is likely linked to economic anxieties, not harvest yields. The run on buckwheat "indicates people's expectations of an upcoming economic crisis, to which consumers are always keenly attuned," said Natalia Kolupaeva, a retail analyst at Raiffeisenbank. Prices for buckwheat started to grow at the end of October on reports of a bad harvest in the Altai region in Siberia, which produces about 40 percent of the buckwheat in Russia. News of the bad harvest spread like...

If the end result of a war is an exchange of territory, the outcome of a revolution is ultimately the exchange of real estate. The house at 716 Gerrard Street East is an apt illustration of the downward mobility of the politically displaced. Listed last week on MLS, the modest two-story Riverdale semidetached was the final residence of the Tsar Nicholas II’s last surviving sibling, Grand Duchess Olga Alexandranova. The highest ranking member of the Russian imperial family to emigrate to North America, Olga convalesced in the care of Russian friends who ran the beauty shop on the main floor....

To date nine women have accused former CBC star, Jian Ghomeshi, of alleged sexual harassment and physical and mental abuse, occurring before, during and after sexual encounters. Two of these women were former employees of CBC. .... I believe that CBC is in serious trouble because it is being alleged by the National Post and Toronto Sun, that CBC managers and staff must have known about Ghomeshi’s unacceptable conduct towards young CBC women staffers and his apparent attempt to use his powerful CBC position to pursue his personal sexual conquests. And by turning a blind eye to Ghomeshi, CBC has...

The executive producer of Q is taking time away from work as the CBC continues to come to grips with the scandal surrounding the show’s former host, Jian Ghomeshi. Arif Noorani has decided to “take some time off while we get more clarity around the situation,” said Chuck Thompson, the public broadcaster’s head of public affairs, in an e-mail. He said it was the producer’s decision. Noorani could not be reached for comment late on Monday, but an automatic reply on his e-mail says he is “out of the office this week.” He has been with the program since 2007,...